Nominated for the Chicago Review of Books Award
A work of unflinching honesty, Autoportrait is a hypnotic memoir of
reflection, loss, and everyday joy from one of America's best
contemporary novelists
Jesse Ball has produced fourteen acclaimed works of deeply empathetic
absurdism in poetry and fiction. Now, he offers readers his first
memoir, one that showcases his "humane curiosity" (James Wood) and
invites the reader into a raw and personal account of love, grief, and
memory. Inspired by the memoir Édouard Levé put to paper shortly before
his death, Autoportrait is an extraordinarily frank and intimate work
from one of America's most brilliant young authors.
The subtle power of Ball's voice conjures the richness of everyday life.
On each page, half-remembered moments are woven together with the joys
and triumphs--and the mistakes and humiliations, too--that somehow tell
us who we are, why we are here. Held at the same height as tragic
accounts of illness or death are moments of startling beauty, banality,
or humor: I wake in the morning, I sit, I walk long distances. If there
is somewhere to swim, I may swim. If I have a bicycle, I will ride it,
especially to meet someone. There is no more preparing for me to do,
other than preparing for death, and I do that by laughing. Not laughing
at death, of course. Laughing at myself.
An extraordinary memoir that reminds us what is possible and builds to
the kind of power one might feel reading Anne Carson's Glass Essay, or
Joe Brainard's I Remember. Autoportrait will leave you feeling
utterly invigorated, inspired, and a little afraid.
